Astronauts Meir, Morgan, Skripochka Return from International Space Station

NASA on Friday said its astronauts Jessica Meir and Andrew Morgan returned to Earth, alongside Roscosmos' Soyuz Commander Oleg Skripochka. The space agency said Morgan's extended stay in space will help increase knowledge about how the human body responds to longer duration spaceflight,

The space agency revealed the trio had departed the International Space Station on Thursday and made a parachute-assisted landing on Friday in Kazakhstan. It was the first spaceflight for Morgan and Meir, who are said to have contributed to hundreds of experiments while on board the space station. 

During her spaceflight, Meir conducted the first three all-woman spacewalks with crewmate Christina Koch of NASA, totalling 21 hours and 44 minutes. Skripochka is completing his third spaceflight for a cumulative 536 days in orbit. Meir and Skripochka, who launched on the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft on September 25, 2019, spent 205 days in space, making 3,280 orbits of Earth during a trip of 86.9 million miles.

Morgan's nine-month mission began on July 20, 2019. His 272-day flight spanned Expeditions 60-62, encompassing a total of 4,352 Earth orbits and a journey of 115.3 million miles. NASA said he also conducted seven spacewalks - totalling 45 hours and 48 minutes.

"Among the research experiments to which the Expedition 62 crew contributed was the Droplet Formation Study, which evaluates water droplet formation, water flow and, indirectly, the perceived pressure of current showerhead technology as compared to the industry-standard use of jet nozzles. The study examines droplet size and speed and how they affect the feeling of increased pressure for the end user,"